Obama to get new budget director

May 18, 2014
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Shaun Donovan / Lauren Victoria Burke, AP

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

It looks like Shaun Donovan will be the new White House point person on future budget battles with Congress.

President Obama is expected to nominate Donovan, currently the secretary of housing and urban development, to be the new director of the Office of Management and Budget.

While White House-Republican budget battles have been in remission since last year's partial government shutdown, the spending plan they agreed to runs only through September.

The Wall Street Journallists other potential Donovan challenges, including tax policy, the fate of mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the possibility that Republicans may take control of the Senate after the November elections.

If confirmed by the Senate, Donovan would replace OMB Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who has been nominated to run the Department of Health and Human Services.